Jan. 2. 1875: Harriot Kezia Hunt dies in Boston. Hunt urged women into the medical profession as the surest way to preserve the modesty of female patients. Finally admitted to Harvard's medical school after years of applying, she was forced to withdraw when male students rioted in protest. Her clinical work rejected the established practice of heavily dosing patients with medications, and instead stressed proper diet, exercise, and hygiene.

Jan. 3. 2000: In Amador Hernandez, Chiapas, the "Zapatista Air Force" bombards the Mexican Army's barracks with paper airplanes to protest the army's incursion into indigenous villages and communities.

Jan. 4. 1965: Free Speech Movement (FSM) holds first legal rally on Sproul Plaza, Univ. of CA at Berkeley.

Jan. 5. 1942: John B. Hughes of the Mutual Broadcasting Company opens an attack on Japanese Americans in California. He charges they are engaged in espionage and their dominance in produce production and control of the food supply are part of a master war plan. The attack is joined by "patriotic" organizations and white farming interests.

Jan. 6. 1937: Abraham Lincoln Brigade is formed to fight Spanish fascism. Part of the International Brigade, it will fight valiantly on the Aragon front and in defense of Madrid. Some 4,000 American men and women join; nearly 2,000 of them die of wounds or disease. One of the casualties is Oliver Law, an African American who came to command the entire Lincoln Battalion. Law is the first black man known to command white US troops.

Jan. 7. 1939: Tom Mooney, labor activist, freed after 22 1/2 years in jail on false charges of murder in connection with a 1916 San Francisco bomb explosion.

Jan. 8. 1923: Birth of Sembene Ousmane, Senegalese labor union activist, writer, and film director, best known for his historical-political works with strong social comment.

Jan. 9. 1942: A US government press release says 40% more Native Americans have enlisted to fight in WWII than have been drafted. Altogether, 25,000 Indians served in the US armed forces, including 800 women. In the Philippines, a Choctaw scout escaped from the Japanese at the battle of Corregidor, and led underground guerrilla forces until the war ended. The Oneidas, Chippewas, and Comanches blocked Japanese decoding of military information by dispatching messages in their tribal languages. Navajo Code Talkers were instrumental in the landing at Guadalcanal, where they sent and received reports from field commanders.

Jan. 10. 1971: Peoples' Peace Treaty between the peoples of US and Vietnam endorsed by 130 organizations. Several million North Americans later sign.

Jan. 11. 1835: Alice Paul, first peace picketer at White House, born.

Jan. 12. 1965: Playwright Lorraine Hansberry dies of cancer in New York. Her popular play, "A Raisin in the Sun," is the first drama by a black woman produced on Broadway.

Jan. 13. 1993: Vigil against arrival of ship bringing plutonium for nuclear reactor, Tokai, Japan.

Jan. 14. 1991: An estimated 30,000-60,000 rally at Seattle Central Community College in vigil opposing US invasion of Kuwait and Iraq.

Jan. 15. 1929: Congress passes the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact, signed by 62 nations outlawing war. Yup.